This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art. Internal combustion engines such as direct injection engines may employ fuel injectors that provide a fluid conduit between a pressurized fuel rail and a combustion cylinder of an internal combustion engine. While current fuel injectors and corresponding fuel rails have been satisfactory for their given applications, such components are not without need for improvement.
Engine assemblers desire a tight, secure and aligned assembly of the fuel injector to the fuel rail to prevent disassembly during part shipment and during installation of the fuel rail and fuel injectors onto the engine. Additionally, prevention of a fuel injector from becoming misaligned with the fuel rail during assembly onto an engine or prior to assembly onto an engine or during engine operation is also desired. Typically, a fuel rail will employ a fuel injector cup that is brazed, welded or otherwise secured to a fuel rail. An injector may reside within the injector cup with the aid of a compressed O-ring, which resides over the injector inlet. During shipment of fuel injectors or during assembly of a fuel rail and an injector combination onto an engine, because only an O-ring is compressed against an interior of the injector cup, the integrity of the holding force of the compressed O-ring may be compromised, resulting in parting of the injector from the injector cup or misalignment of the parts prior to installation onto an engine. Moreover, during operation, fuel injectors may become stuck or seized onto the engine cylinder head due to soot or carbon build-up at the tip of the injector. In such a case, it is desirable to have the rail and injector separate easily. Thus, during servicing of a fuel injection system, service technicians desire a relatively quick disconnect of the fuel injector from adjacent components.
What is needed then is a device that quickly permits alignment and secure connection of a fuel injector with an injector cup and injector rail but that also permits quick and easy separation of the fuel injector from an injector cup.